Kakadu - Kununurra

Lachlan – We went to Twin Falls. We could not swim because there were crocs but I found one of their teeth. Then we went through a river to go to Jim Jim Falls. We had to walk through a monsoon forest full of butterflies. At the plunge pool we saw big fish. I caught a small fish with my bear hands. On the way to Darwin we went to an aboriginal rock art site. We saw the sunset over the flood plain. The night we got to Darwin we went to we went to the Mindel market. We went to an oil pipeline and a beach that there was lots of coral and shells. The beach looked like it was moving because there were so many hermit crabs. We went to the state museum and an airplane museum. We visited and bought a painting from a gallery. Then we went to wangi fall and dived. I saw lots of fish. The next day we went along the Renelds track. We went to the lost city. It was a rock formation that looked like city ruins. We went to Blyth homestead. It was a very small house and at the back was a tin mine. I got some tin. Then we went to sandy creek falls and had a swim. The others saw a snake. Then we went to surprise creek. We jumped off the ledge into the water. We saw our first wild cow and pig (the pig was dead). At Katherine we went on a croc-spotting thing. I spotted lots of crocs. We saw catfish and snapper turtles. We got 1m close to a croc. At Kununarra we went to a Christian radio place. Today we are flying over the bungle bungles and lake argile.

(Photo: Thylacine Rock Art at Ubirr Rock, )

Campbell – we went to the Mindl market. I had garlic prawns for tea. We went to the aviation museum. It had lots of planes. The main one was a B-52 G model bommer. We went to a beach that had lots of hermit crabs. I held some. My brother and sister went to the movies. I had a swim. We went to litchfeild and went to lots of water falls. we went through lots of river crossings. The water falls was very nice. We went to Katherine. We went on a crocodile cruise. We saw at least 5 or 10 crocodiles. We are now at Kununurra. We went out for tea.

Pippa – We went to Twin Falls and swam at Jim Jim Falls. We were staying at Jabiru in Kakadu lodge with Caravan Park. We went t Darwin the next day we went to the Mindel market. We got tea there. I got my hair cut at Cassurina I also saw a movie there. It was Prince Caspian. We went to a museum. We saw sweet heat a 5.1 m croc! We went for lots of swims in the pool and got free cordials. Then we headed of to Wangi Falls in Litchfield National Park we stayed there for a couple of nights. Then we went out throw the Reynolds and stop at some swimming spots. We stayed at Katherine at Springvale Homestead and went on a croc cruise that night it included witch was a BBQ. Now we are in Kununurra.

(Photo: Smoke from burning off at sunset, Ubirr Rock, Kakadu)

Rhys – bit long since our last post, it is a new experience to not be regularly in mobile phone range. In Kakadu we 4WD into Twin falls and Jim Jim falls they were both good but I preferred the river crossing on the way in that was about 600mm deep without driving on top of the Salt was crocs. Its good motivation to not get stuck part way across! There are so many waterfalls and gorges to visit. Gunlom is still my overall fav, good to look at, walk and swim. These two was worth a visit as they are quite tall. Lachlan and I cased fish at Jim Jim, he caught one about 120mm long! Visited Ubirr rocks the aboriginal art was interesting and so much of it. The sunset over the wetlands was a good experience. Traveled to Darwin, so much to do around town, went tot the markets (they are full of new age stuff but the food is good). More sunsets at meal time @ Mindal Market and Stokes Hill Wharf, recommend both. Kids enjoyed feeding the fish on the Wharf, big hungry fish. Visited the Aviation museum which had a B-52 bomber, what a big beast, would not like to be on the receiving end of one of these war machines. Darwin harbor is twice the size of Sydney harbor, but not a picturesque as you can’t see the other side! Went shell hunting at east Point Arm, the beach was alive with hermit crabs, could not bring myself to evicting the crabs though they were in very nice shells. Bought a painting of the Bungle Bungles at a nice galley in Darwin. Camped beside a couple of blokes (Mick & Hoges) that had rode up to Darwin from Melbourne on large touring bikes also met a couple from Holland, Derek and Irene, was great sitting around chatting and joking together. The Dutch couples had sold their house and are traveling around the world. The place they had enjoyed the most so far was Mongolia and Tibet. Its interesting as most Aussie big travel experiences are to the US or Europe, maybe we should visit our neighborhood in Asia. From Darwin traveled to Litchfield where we preceded to swim at any waterfall that did not have saltwater crocs. Found a good campsite at Wangi Falls, glad we arrive early, as the place is full by 10:30! At wangi the swimming was good plenty of fish, rocks to jump off, warm pools and nice scenery. Camped beside a couple from Bayside Melbourne (Luke & Kay), we live in a parallel universe to them, doing similar things to them and have common values, were a good experience. Just outside Litchfield on the western side we found a cafe for Kathy to have a nice coffee at. From Litchfield we traveled south on the Reynolds Track to Katherine, Kathy was not sure of this at the time as we had reports that the river crossings were many and deep (and crocodile infested). After visiting all the sites on the way through, like the water falls, historic homestead, beautiful scenery, etc she had quite enjoyed it. The best parts were that we did not fill up the camper trailer with water, did not get stuck in a river crossing and that there were not so many people as access was more difficult. Stayed in Katherine and went for a crocodile cruise and dinner at night then off to Kununarra. Passed over some huge rivers, makes the yarra look like a small creek.

(Photo: River Crossing, Jim Jim Falls, Kakadu)

Kathy – Sorry it’s been so long since we last put anything on the Blog – a combination of lack of Internet coverage and too many things to do and people to see.

After Kakadu we went back to civilization and got the last site at an overpriced caravan park in Darwin (it is amazing how many people are traveling up here at the moment). We really enjoyed Darwin. The markets were great – lots of yummy Asian food and interesting entertainment. We met some lovely people – hi Irene and Derek (from Holland) and Mick and Hogan (from Melbourne). We had some great evenings sitting and chatting with them. We did the usual tourist things – visited the museums, collected shells on the beach etc, etc.

From Darwin we went to Litchfield National Park. We stayed at Wangi Falls, which was a very nice waterhole. We think Campbell has found his inner Digemon. At the fall we couldn’t find Campbell. We discovered him up behind some rocks eating green ants! They taste very sour like the beginning of warhead lollies (I know, I got Pippa to kill one for me so I could try it).

There were lots of interesting sights to see at Litchfield including the magnetic termite mounds which the termites orientate north/south to protect them from the sun. On the second day there we met Luke and Kay from Cheltenham. We had lots in common, church life, family life, kids stuffing around instead of helping pack up etc, etc!

We went out of Litchfield via an Fwd track, which included numerous river crossings. Rhys was wrapped but I was very skeptical to begin with because they were deepish and I had visions of out stuff floating around in the trailer. It all ended fine. Rhys got his excitement and the trailer stayed dry. There were some interesting places along the track. The highlight was probably Surprise Creek Falls, which had the best rock pools we’ve seen yet.

(Photo: Magnetic Termite Mound, Litchfield National Park)

From Litchfield we spent a night at Katherine in the grounds of the historic Springvale Homestead. From there we went on a night cruise of the Katherine River, which was very interesting. We saw lots of freshwater crocodiles and Northern Snapping Turtles which can bite your finger off if you get too close to their mouths.

We are now in Kununarra. I expected it to be flat, dry and boring around here. Instead it is nestled amongst by rugged rocky outcrops and is surrounded by water. There are lots of amazing boab trees. The kids discovered if you drop the boab nuts them they explode on impact. Needless to say many boab nuts are now in small pieces! The weather is about 28C during the day and about 15C at night. Very pleasant.

Well, it really is a small world. We went to Kununarra Baptist Church yesterday which was a great experience. This time of year they get a lot of visitors passing through and their congregation of 30 can swell to up to 120 people! We were introduced to another Victorian couple. It turned out that they live in The Basin, their surname is Dobson and they used to own an apple orchard – which we used to buy apples from! What’s more, for all you CHBC people, they go to Kilsyth South Baptist and Graeme and Isabelle Neilson’s caravan is stored on their property. Whatsmore, in the afternoon we went on a tour of HCJB Radio’s facilities. We were shown a DVD about HCJB, which included footage of the Kickbush’s and Vicky Rottinger. Wow!

Today we are going on a flight over Lake Argyle and the Bungle Bungles which I am really looking forward to. We have extended our stay at Kununurra another couple of days so we can chill out a bit before we head off to the Bungle Bungles and then over the Gibb River road to Broome.

(Photo: Wangi Falls, Litchfield National Park)